It is often desirable that a beverage be served at a preferred temperature. For example, soda and beer are often served cold, and baby's milk and hot chocolate are often served hot. It is not always the case, however, that a particular beverage is available at a desired temperature. For example, one may purchase from a store soda or beer that has not been chilled. To enable more immediate consumption, one may want to cool such a beverage at a rapid rate by placing it in the freezer. While this has the desirable effect of rapidly cooling the beverage, there is the undesirable consequence that, if placed in the freezer too long, the beverage may freeze and, through expansion of the frozen liquid, cause the beverage's container to burst or rupture. As a second example, one may want to rewarm or prepare milk for a baby by placing the beverage in a microwave or within a pan of boiling water on a stove. However, it milk is boiled too long, it will curdle and become unusable. Thus, for both the beverage placed in the freezer and the beverage placed in the microwave/over the stove, there is a need to provide notification that such beverage has reached a predetermined temperature prior to undesirable effects that result from continued cooling or warming of such beverage for longer periods.
It is known that a temperature measuring device may be incorporated into a beverage container or associated with such a container. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,581, a baby bottle is disclosed in FIG. 10 of that patent, which includes a temperature indicator, buzzer, signal processor, and wiring united with the bottle. When the milk in the bottle is heated to a predesired temperature, the buzzer sounds. However, if the bottle was placed in a closed area, such as a microwave, the buzzer could not be reliably heard. In addition, the association of the electronic elements with the bottle may interfere with the operation of the microwave and cause other problems.
It is also known that temperature measuring devices may be associated with closed spaces. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,959,787 discloses a refrigerator alarm for signaling an improperly high temperature in a refrigerated container such as a freezer. The device includes a thermostat mounted within the refrigerated container and an alarm device mounted outside the container for providing a signal based on the inner temperature of the container. This device, however, is unable to indicate the temperature of a particular item placed in the container, such as a bottle or can. In addition, the device is intended as a warning device to indicate that the container is not providing the intended refrigeration function; it is not intended to provide a warning that the excess refrigeration is being provided to a particular item in the container.
Thus, there is an unmet need for providing a beverage temperature measuring device for indicating that a beverage has reached a predetermined temperature, where the temperature indication is provided remotely to the beverage being heated or cooled. This enables the use of a closed container or some other remote means, such as a freezer, oven, stove, or microwave, to provide rapid temperature regulation of the beverage without the need for a person to continuously monitor the progress of the temperature regulation function.